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The best thing about Apple products is that they all know how to communicate with each other. That's in part thanks to Swift, the programming language that is the foundation of all Apple apps. Get the Complete Swift 3 Hacking Bundle and start building your dream apps. It's on sale now for 95% off the retail price – that's $35 (approx £27.50). Swift 3 is an essential language for any programmer to master. To get up to speed on the latest version of the code that makes Apple devices tick, grab the Complete Swift 3 Hacking Bundle. It's packed with more than 64 hours of lessons that will teach you how to build for iOS, MacOS, and WatchOS. By the time you're done with this bundle, you'll be building apps that will climb the App Store charts. The Complete Swift 3 Hacking Bundle usually retails for $700, but you can save a whopping 95% off the retail price right now for this collection of courses. Don't miss out on those incredible savings; grab this bundle today! View the full article

We've all been faced with egregious examples of UI design at times. They're infuriating if you actually have to deal with them. But if they're not actively preventing you from doing something they can be entertaining, and can even provide useful tips on how not to do things. So, what happens when coders and designers deliberately set out to create staggeringly bad UI? Well, that's exactly what's been happening recently over on Reddit. It started with an innocent enough post in r/ProgrammerHumor, asking, "Who can make the best volume slider?" and accompanied by this fantastic GIF: Oh. Oh my word. Who could possibly top this?This being the internet, things got swiftly out of hand, as this cavalcade of crimes against usability will attest. 'Hold my beer' Actual genius Actually, yeah, why not? There's probably a 'dicey' pun in this one Fun for all the family Literally pumping up the volume 10/10, would definitely use It's the bad colour choice that really make this one pop But what if you want a volume of more than 90?Not content with merely creating images and animated GIFs, someone's even gone to the trouble of making a (sort of) working version of one of our favourites – click and hold the speaker icon to play. Brilliant. If you're after some excellent tips on how not to do UI, or just want to see more usability hilarity, head over to r/Programmers, where the dreadful sliders are still coming in thick and fast. Related articles: 10 top UI trends for 2017 The pro's guide to UI design 8 minimal UI designs and why they work View the full article

Kaspersky Lab said it has seen some of the first exploits targeting a patched Samba vulnerability, and those are being used to mine Monero cryptocurrency. View the full article

When taking Terragen 4 for a spin, the first thing you notice is its speed. If you load some old, dense scenes created in v2 or v3 of the environment rendering software, you'll be happy to see how much faster it's become, even on a single-core system running a humble GTX 970. This is thanks to the new render engine enhancements, and Planetside isn't lying when it says Terragen 4 can render poly-heavy scenes up to 500 per cent faster. Run it on something like a W9100 with two 2.3GHz Xeons and 64GB RAM on board, and you get almost instant renders, even at high resolutions. That speed also translates into one of Terragen 4's new features: the new raytraced preview option, which enables you to finally see your scene and its set up properly – atmospherics, volumetrics and shaders included. Terragen's best feature has always been its incredibly realistic natural render output. This is even better in version 4, which now sports Ozone settings. The absorption of light is one of the hardest things to get right in any renderer, especially when adding clouds, but in Terragen 4 this works really well. It will probably save a lot of us forays into Photoshop to tweak the colours that tone mapping didn't quite get. This goes for camera settings, as well: you can now get bloom and starburst at rendertime, (almost) no postwork needed. Terragen 4 has improved shader presetsIt also seems the Terragen team made an effort to give new users a gentler entry curve by improving their mostly procedural shader presets. These range from new shaders for such features as the new, impressive multi-scattering function in clouds, to improvements to the existing terrain shaders. However, Terragen's powerful node network and new functionality are still not as accessible as the offerings of its rival Vue, which also provides an easier pipeline integration and a more accessible shader and tweakable ecosystem library out of the box. That's not a major issue for experienced landscapers, but definitely one for newcomers. The new Ozone function helps you add even more realism to your scenesSo how does Terragen 4 compare to its main competitor? As far as speed goes, it leaves Vue's offerings in the dust. An xStream import running Corona 1.5 on a set of Xeons ate into some of it, but Terragen 4 stayed solidly in the speed lead. Vue 2016 probably beats Terragen 4 in the accessibility department, though. This aside, Terragen 4 is worth every cheaper-than-Vue penny – no other renderer out there can give you the same landscape or nature realism that Terragen provides at the price. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 217; buy it here! Related articles: 29 free 3D models Sharpen your hard-surface modelling 5 steps to a faster workflow View the full article

Anyone who works with images will find photography is a constant need. Rather than hiring a pro, paying for stock or wasting time on Google, why not set up a small photo studio of your own at the office? Setting up a small in-house photo studio isn't all that hard, needn't be expensive, and can quickly deliver on your needs. 01. Pick a photographer Appoint one photographer – yourself or a colleaguePick a person to be your photographer. Photography has become so popular, there's bound to be someone in every office who knows a good bit about it. You want just one person, rather than all chipping in, so that they can keep track of everything and be responsible for looking after the equipment. 02. Choose your studio This strobe light's back panel has a great range of controlsNow you need to choose a space. Whether your office is a huge, trendy loft with room to spare, or a small space, you can usually find enough room to make most photography work. Ask yourself, what is it that you wish to photograph? Are you likely to be shooting groups of people? Client products? Maybe a range of editorial-style images? A complex professional still life set up can easily use hundreds of square feet. But still lifes could also be shot in an area no larger than a walk-in closet or office cubicle. Shooting people needs more room. People look better when photographed from at least five feet away, and you don't want the studio lights right on top of their face. About 15 by 25 feet is a comfortable space, though a head and shoulders portrait probably only needs 10 x 15 feet. Whatever space you choose, if it can be a dedicated space, clean from other activities, that would be great. This will of course depend on how much you shoot. 03. Equip the studio Kit doesn't need to cost as much as you'd thinkIn your studio, you are likely to need: Between one and three light sources Light stands for each Light modifiers (an umbrella, softbox, barndoors, snoot, etc) Backdrop support stand A camera Studio lighting There are two kinds of lighting – flash heads (also called strobe) and continuous light. Strobes are generally used for still photography. Continuous lighting can be used for either stills or videos. A strobe light gives a quick burst of bright light, freezing the action for a sharper image. It's also brighter, so you can use smaller apertures for greater depth of field. Strobes come as battery-powered lights (from around $300/£240), or as self-contained monolights, which tend to be more affordable (from around $85/£150). When choosing a strobe, the watt/seconds tells you how bright it gets, and its recycle time tells you how long it takes to recharge to fire again. Recycle is important when shooting portraits, less so when shooting a still life. Units that have at least 150 watt/seconds with about one-second recycle times are ideal. Continuous lights cost less, make it a bit easier to see what you are getting than the modelling lights on strobes, and if you are also going to be shooting video, you get double-duty lighting. Continuous lights come in affordable entry kits, with fluorescent (from around $85/£85), LED (from around $100/£60) or tungsten (from around $110/£90) light options. Remote strobe triggers may include transmitter and slave unitsBackdrop The easiest thing to do, and what many do when they start, is hook your backdrop material to the rear wall of your studio. In fact, sometimes people just use the back wall by itself! For a more professional solution, hang paper backdrops by buying a 'seamless backdrop' stand (essentially, some poles that hold a roll of paper) – kits come in various sizes with different coloured backdrops, from as little as $105/£55. The camera You can go for a top pro camera, but that probably isn't needed. A mid-range camera is more than fine. The main benefits of using a DSLR, rather than a point and shoot camera, is being able to change lenses, which will also be of better quality than those on lower-end cameras. DSLRs also integrate with studio lights via a wired connection (around $10/£5), or a wireless trigger and receiver kit (from around $40/£60). Accessories Once all of the major purchases are out of the way, we can look at the smaller items without which, things might not work. You might need: A modestly priced tripod (around $50/£40) – especially for shooting products or shooting with continuous lighting A table studio/light tent (around $50/£35) – for shooting small products An SD memory card with Wi-Fi (from around $30/£30) – to send your files to your computer/phone/tablet wirelessly, while you're shooting 04. Set up the studio, shooting and post production A flashpoint strobe on a light stand with a reflective umbrellaEven if you know what you're doing, unpacking it all and setting up a studio takes some time. So does learning how to use the strobes and camera. Try to do this days or even weeks before you agree to any photo deadlines. Once you have an understanding of how the equipment works, and you are able to see reasonably exposed images, you are on your way. But now the real work starts. Start playing with the lights and experiment! Practice on objects, practice on co-workers. Read about photo techniques, and start critiquing the photos you see to understand what you like about them. Do all of this, and you will be amazed at how good you will become in a very short time! Like this? Read these: The best photo apps for iPhone, iPad and Android 15 essential photo editor apps Review: Adobe Photoshop CC View the full article

Language is a wonderful thing. Thanks to the written and spoken word, we can communicate everything from the most abstract academic theories to the dankest memes that social media has to offer. One of the most interesting parts of any language, though, is seeing how people interpret it and make it evolve in different ways. Take, for example, the humble @ symbol. This character is used all the time in email addresses and Twitter handles because it's a concise and easy way to put across the idea that a message is directed to a person. However, this doesn't mean people are as straightforward when referring to the symbol. In English, this character is simply referred to as the 'at sign'. However, different countries all over the world have come up with some creative alternatives and colloquialisms. The team at Viking have teamed up with illustrator Andres Lozano to bring some of these quirky names to life. Scroll through the gallery below to explore what people are calling the @ character. Related articles: 20 amazing free Google web fonts The 5 basic types of logo and how to use them 6 printing trends every designer should know about View the full article

It’s frustrating. You’ve spent hours, days, weeks on your logo design, and yet still it isn’t working. But you’re so close to the project personally that you can’t see the wood for the trees, and you can’t work out where you’re going awry. If you want to avoid this scenario, then read and digest our 10 commandments of logo design. Follow them to the letter and you shouldn’t stray too far from the path of logo righteousness... 01. Thou shalt research the brand Like all commercial design, a logo doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and is not just about creating something that will look pretty on your portfolio. Brands pay for a logo to be created to fulfil a business need, and you will have to understand that need fully for your design to succeed. Sometimes, you’ll get an articulate client who can explain where the business is coming from and what the logo needs to achieve quickly and simply. But at other times, the client won’t really understand the business themselves, and you’ll have to do a lot of that work yourself. Either way, it’s up to you to fully research the company, understand what it’s trying to achieve, who its competitors are, and why the previous logo (if there is one) is being replaced. Some of that research may take place on the internet, or reading corporate documents, but much of it will depend on meeting the client and asking the right questions. To get you started, here are 5 questions to ask about the brand. 02. Thou shalt respect brand heritage When a new logo strays too far from its brand roots it can be disastrous, as with this abandoned 2012 logo for the University of California (right)When it comes to creating a new design for an existing brand, you want it to look updated, modern and forward-looking. But there’s a danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Logo design history is littered with examples of companies that released new logos that were totally disconnected from their brand heritage, only to watch them crash and burn. Read about some of the most notorious examples, in our post 7 classic logos that should never have been changed – and make sure you learn from their mistakes. 03. Thou shalt choose the right kind of logo Some logos are made entirely of type, while others exist entirely as a symbol, and yet others combine text and graphics in the same design. So before you start designing, it’s important to decide what kind of logo you're setting out to create. This key step will help focus your mind and get you moving in the right direction, before you waste your time going down a series of blind alleys. If you’re unsure about what the main types of logo are, then check out our 5 basic types of logo post. In it we explain what wordmarks, lettermarks, brandmarks, combination marks and emblems are and how to use them. 04. Thou shalt keep your design simple TGI Friday’s 2013 logo (right) cleaned up the old, more ornate design markedlyA logo needs to be scalable to small sizes (printed on a pen or appearing on a mobile device) and huge ones (for instance, a billboard or an IMAX cinema screen). It needs to be instantly recognisable by consumers, as well as powerfully memorable. It needs to work in any colour. And it needs to be versatile enough to be consistently reproduced in a range of print and digital media. For these reasons and more, your logo needs to be as simple as possible. Try shrinking it to a tiny size on your screen: does it still work? If not, it probably needs simplifying further. So keep editing, removing and simplifying. Purge your design of unnecessary graphical elements. Simplify shapes. Remove unnecessary shadows, gradients, textures and backgrounds. Reduce the number of fonts to the bare minimum. This process can be psychologically difficult: we all hate to discard details we’ve worked hard to create. But at the end of the process, you’ll usually end up with a logo that’s simpler and much more successful as a design. That doesn’t, however, mean every logo you create has to be ultra-minimalist to the nth degree. Consider the Firefox logo as a good example of how a logo can be simple, versatile and scalable while still evoking a unique visual personality. 05. Thou shalt make your design readable It should go without saying, but so many logo designs fall down on a fundamental basis: their readability. Conversely, many brands work hard over time to make subtle updates to their logo to make it easier to read. Some of these can be extremely subtle, as when Google moved its ‘g’ one pixel to the right and its ‘l’ one pixel down in 2014. But the fact that brands indulge in that level of tinkering just goes to show how important legibility is, and how it should be at the heart of any logo design or redesign. 06. Thou shalt be original The Tokyo 2020 logo had to be abandoned after complaints about its similarity to Belgian designer Olivier Debie's design for Théâtre de LiègeOne side effect of the need to simplify is that it’s very easy to end up creating something that resembles an existing logo. There are countless examples of big brands getting caught in this trap, from the debacle of NBC’s 1976 logo (detailed in 5 expensive logos and what they teach us) to the short-lived Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo. This post suggests 5 ways you can avoid falling foul of plagiarism in your logo design. 07. Thou shalt not slavishly follow trends We all love watching trends, and logos are no different. In fact, we’ve already written a post about 2017’s biggest logo trends ourselves. But in no way does that mean you should slavishly follow them. A successful logo can potentially stay in place for decades, so if you try to be too hip and modern, your design will only date super-fast. Focus on the classic principles of logo design and think about long-term durability rather than short-term trends. 08. Thou shalt use vector software Use a vector editor like Illustrator, not a raster editor like Photoshop, to design your logosIt is possible to design a logo in Photoshop, but it’s not a good idea. This will mean creating your logo as a raster object, which can’t be resized without loss of quality. Instead, you should use a vector graphics program such as Adobe Illustrator or Affinity Designer. This way, your logo will be a vector object that can be scaled up or down without any pixelation. For more on the difference between vector and raster images, read Key terms every designer needs to know while you’ll find more vector editing tools here. 09. Thou shalt be appropriate What works as a logo for one brand may not work for another. A logo for a web startup may be fun, cartoony and tongue in cheek, but that’s unlikely to work for a traditional high street bank, which needs to project an image of authority and reliability. Like it or not, the style of your logo will instantly convey what a company stands for, so make sure it’s appropriate and that it’s aligned with the overall brand identity. Again, this goes back to understanding the goals and values of the business that’s employed you as a designer. 10. Thou shalt consider thy typography carefully For its new 2017 logo, Mozilla collaborated with Dutch type foundry Typotheque to create a custom slab serif font, Zilla Using original typography is often key to creating a logo that stands out as original and distinctive. So try to avoid commonly used fonts, and play around with different styles of type – serifs and sans-serifs, italics and bold, as well as custom-made fonts – in order to find that unique look that helps your logo become memorable. Just don’t sacrifice scalability or legibility in the process. View the full article

With designers fighting it out for every job that comes along, it's important that you stand out from the crowd. Whether you're just starting out or an old hand applying for a better position, your CV needs to be first rate for you to stand a chance of getting an interview. Getting it right is about how it's designed as well as about what you write. Here we'll cover you both, as we walk you through the process of creating a designer resumé. You'll be landing that dream design job in no time! 01. Don’t use a word processor Word doesn't offer the creative possibilities you need for a design resuméMicrosoft Word might be OK if you’re applying for a secretarial position, but if you’re after a design job or something creative, its limited and idiosyncratic layout options won't cut it. Art directors will be paying close attention to the layout of your resumé as much as the content, so use InDesign or even Illustrator to design something special. Whatever program you use to design your resumé in, PDF is the best format to supply it in. This enables you to create good-looking documents that are completely cross-platform. 02. Choose your resumé fonts wisely The aim of any designer resumé should be legibilityYou’re a designer, so your resumé should follow the latest trends in typography, right? Wrong! The aim of any resumé should be legibility, so it’s generally a wise idea to stick to simple, readable fonts. You don't need to shell out lots of cash to find something suitable either – take a look at our list of the 50 best free fonts for designers. 03. Consider using colour For most non-design-related jobs, a resumé designed or printed in colour is probably a waste of time. However, for design positions, touches of colour are an acceptable way to add a discreet personal touch. Use colour carefully, however, as green type on a yellow page may not go down too well. 04. Be brief Don't write pages and pages of detailArt directors do not have the time or the inclination to read your entire life story. Your resumé should ideally fit onto one side of A4, and if it's any longer than two pages, you’re waffling and including too much stuff. Don’t be tempted to mask a lack of experience with verbosity. Clean, well-laid-out resumés will always win over flabby ones – remember, the aim is to intrigue. Point the recipient in the direction of an online portfolio to see more. 05. Include the right information As a minimum, your resumé should include your name and contact details, including your email address, phone number and online portfolio URL. This should be followed by a breakdown of your work experience, then your education. In both cases, this should be most recent first. Work experience should include dates, job title and a brief synopsis of your role. References are generally optional. 06. Don't lie on your resumé We once received a resumé from an unnamed individual who claimed to have created quite a stunning website. We would have been extremely impressed were it not for the fact that we had actually designed the site. Needless to say, that resumé went straight in the bin and the sender was rewarded with a strongly worded email. Honesty is always the best policy, as you stand a good chance of being found out if you start 'elaborating' in your resumé. 07. Include samples of work By not including any samples of your work with your resumé, you’re pretty much guaranteeing that the recipient will not consider you for the post. If you work with motion, stills are perfect, unless you’ve been specifically asked to include a showreel. On the other hand, don't go overboard with images – that's a job for your online portfolio, which you can provide a link to. 08. Keep it simple Unless you’re really confident and sure about what you’re doing, keep the typographic flourishes and fanciful designs at bay, ensure the layout is simple and clear and the information is cleanly presented. After all, the last thing you want is the recipient squinting because you thought dark grey text on a black background was a great idea. 09. Show your personality This bright CV by Paolo Pettigiani makes a statement [click to download the template] Simple does not have to mean dull. A resumé is a reflection of your disposition and persona, and the recipient will be scanning it, consciously or not, for elements that distinguish your resumé from the other hundreds they have to wade through. Make your resumé stand out with an idiosyncratic design and personal touches... just don't overdo it. 10. Beware the novelty approach to resumés We’ve had resumés written on scrunched up paper; arriving in the form of a jigsaw; and playing cards. We’ve had giant resumé posters, inflatable resumés and resumés crafted using delicate and complex paper engineering. Off-the-wall resumés stick in the mind (you can see some of the best examples in our roundup of 30 brilliantly creative resumés) but they're a risky proposition. On the one hand you might appear like a creative thinker, on the other it might seem pretentious and excessive. It depends on the recipient. 11. Don't plagiarise We've all seen this clever resumé concept... so don't try to pass it off as your ideaA surprising number of graduates see an inspiring resumé design concept and copy it. What can they be thinking? We all have access to the same internet, and if a particularly inventive resumé design has caught your eye, there's a strong chance it's been shared virally within the industry and will have caught the eye of your potential employer, too. Your resumé should showcase your creativity, not someone else's. 12. Don’t send photocopies Don't photocopy; send a fresh resumé every timePhotocopies are cheap, but sadly they also look cheap, especially second and third generation copies. Type starts to break up, images are contrasty and full of noise, fingerprints and other blemishes begin to show up, and the results can look slightly askew. Fresh laser prints or sharp inkjet prints on the best quality paper available are the minimum standard. For more info, check out our designer's guide to printing. 13. Demonstrate consistency Real-world design projects are usually centred around a single, consistent theme or concept that runs throughout the logo, branding, literature and so on. Your résumé, portfolio and covering letter need to demonstrate the same consistency. For example, are bulleted lists presented in the same style across each of your pages? Is the colour scheme consistent? 14. Spend time on the covering letter Most of the time, when you apply for a job, your resumé will need to be accompanied by a covering letter. This should look formal and business-like: this isn't the place to showcase your creativity and imagination. The text should complement the CV and it's best to keep it short and to the point (three paragraphs is a good rule of thumb). Make it obvious you haven't just copied and pasted the same letter you've used to apply for a hundred other jobs. Write it in a way that's personal to the particular job and company you're applying for. 15. Create multiple resumés If you're applying for multiple jobs, you should create multiple resumés, each targeting a specific role and the kind of experience and skills the prospective employers are looking for. To take an obvious example, if the job specifically mentions InDesign as a requirement then you should make this first on your list of skills, and possibly expand the description of how and where you've used it. 16. Check your spelling! If you're applying for a job as a designer, does it matter how well you write? The simple answer is yes. Spelling and grammar mistakes will make you appear uneducated, ignorant and/or lazy – and none of these represent the image you're trying to convey. So, always double-check your grammar and spelling, and get others to check it too (it's easy to miss your own mistakes). Like this? Read these... 100 amazing Adobe Illustrator tutorials 50 best free fonts for designers How to become an art director View the full article

http://www.zdnet.com/pictures/the-dumbest-passwords-people-still-use … View the full article

Designing spaceships for games is a fun experience. If you're interested in 3D art, science, exploration and the cold, haunting darkness of space then you should definitely give it a try. Designing a spaceship for a game is a different challenge compared to illustrating a scene. You have to consider all distances and directions of view, as well as ensuring that your design fits into the game's world. In many science fiction games the spaceship is a character in itself, and this is a good way to approach the topic. Is your ship brand spanking new, or a beaten-up bucket of bolts? Are the owners rich or poor? How about adding unique elements that suggest it's a semi-sentient craft, or a plant-based bioship? Perhaps the ship's been created from a hollowed-out asteroid to look inconspicuous? Thinking of your spaceship design in the same way as your characters will help you to create an interesting ship that people can relate to and want to fly in the game. You can watch the full workshop in the video below. 01. Answering the brief's requirements Defining your universe's technology will shape your designI'm going to design a fast scout ship that's able to defend itself and rescue colonists under threat. Defining your universe's technology will shape your design. As an example, what's the propulsion technology? A fast, fuel-intensive method would mean less space for supplies. Perhaps it's achieved with a specific drive that takes up more room than conventional engines? 02. Thumbnailing designs Each ship needs to have a distinctive silhouetteIn a game that features a range of ships, it's crucial that they have distinctive silhouettes. Think about basic design language: for example, rounded edges can be seen as safe shapes, so use them for passenger crafts. My thumbnails fit the brief because their flat undersides would be able to handle planetary re-entry. The wings convey manoeuvrability and speed. 03. Mood check Drop your favourite thumbnails into more appropriate surroundingsOnce I've completed the thumbnails I take my favourite ones further. I drop them quickly into more appropriate surroundings, such as this simple space dock. This helps give me a better sense of what my ships will look like in-game. If I already have some other ships created for this game then I sit them alongside each other for comparison. Make your spaceship look more natural by adding in tones taken from the surrounding environmentA handy trick often used in car design that will help you make your work look more plausible is to add some of the ground's colour into the underside of your spaceship and some of the sky's colour to the top. Typically, this would be brown and blue, respectively. But you can use whatever you think fits your spaceship and its surroundings. 04. Refining thumbnails At this point, keep the number of tones in use to a minumumAt this stage I can usually tell what areas I want to focus on. I work up my favoured thumbnails, taking them in slightly different directions and seeing if I like the results. I still try and keep the amount of tones I use to a minimum. The spaceship is going to be under a lot of lighting conditions in-game, so I want it to work in all of them, and making sure it reads like this helps. 05. Developing clean line work Sketch out the linework on a perspective gridI chose this thumbnail because it fits the brief. I imagine that the flat underside is able to enter the atmosphere safely, the wings indicate that this is a highly manoeuvrable craft, while its chunky body alludes to a cargo-based role. I feel the ship is at once small enough to lead on to some bigger ships later in the game, while big enough to feature offensive weaponry. I take the design into a new document and start sketching out the linework. Doing this on a perspective grid avoids problems later on. I throw in a figure to give the 3D modellers an idea of scale. 06. Tone block-in Block out the basic tones of the shipNext I block out the basic tones of the ship. For gaming purposes you have to think about what areas of the bodywork might be customisable. This could be either as simple as adding a decal, or something more complex such as applying a new colour scheme as chosen by the player. 07. Colouring the craft Use colour to break up the different panelsMy view of colour is that it's an important tool for breaking up the panels and giving more life to my design. If your game has faction colours then now's a good time to add them in – it'll help establish its place in your gaming universe. 08. Refining your design Don't be afraid to question your designDon't be afraid to question your design. Here I've experimented with the wing shapes, and left myself little visual prompts. Your design will keep throwing up new challenges to resolve, so keep looking at real-life reference. 09. Using the Path tools A top tip is to draw your perspective line with the Path tools, so you don't have to worry about going off canvas. First select the Path tool. Then select the Line tool and set the Pixel Width to 1. Create a new path and draw your horizontal line with vanishing points at either end. You can also create a new layer and use the Stroke Path tool to bring these perspective lines to the canvas. Don't forget that you can choose the colour of your stroke paths – it will simulate whichever brush and colour you've picked. 10. Landing gear Don't forget practical elements like doorsThe ship is going to need to land, and the crew will probably want the ability to get out! I add doors and landing gear to my ship design; I don't want to have to squeeze these elements in after someone has started to turn my drawing into a 3D model. 11. Weathering design elements Add some realistic wear and tearI add weathering to my designs. This helps sell what the ship's life is like, enriches the game world and gives everything a sense of depth. Think about how a ship could experience wear and tear. An asteroid miner might be covered in dust and small dents. A long-distance goods freighter could feature mismatched body panels, with worn paint work around cargo doors. 12. A modular approach Ensure your spaceship design will fit with current game mechanicsI ensure that the craft I've designed will fit in with the current game mechanics by dropping in some weaponry that I've quickly concepted. Modular parts such as better engines or a long-distance scanner gives the players something to aim for, in terms of in-game achievements. 13. Clear labelling Label your design others understand your intentionsIn the games industry a group of artists further down the production pipeline will be turning your concept into a three-dimensional model. For the best translation of your idea – and to avoid lots of emails going back and forth – you should explain your art as much as possible, as simply and clearly as possible. Here I label where I think moving and modular parts should go. 14. Produce an orthographic sketch Make sure you include an orthographic sketchOnce I'm happy with the beauty render, I'll send this to the 3D modellers along with an orthographic sketch of the basic forms from a variety of angles. However good your concept might seem from one angle, someone else’s view of it might be completely different. Your sleek spaceship might come back looking like a duck. We’ve all been there! This article originally appeared in ImagineFX issue 115. Related articles: Modelling a spaceship for gameplay design The 5 greatest CG spaceships ever Sharpen your hard-surface modelling View the full article

Illustrator Owen Davey has created a new book full of every big cat you care to name, and it is gorgeous. For Crazy About Cats, Davey turned his hand-drawn illustrations into modern, colour blocked graphics in a distinctive style that includes a restricted colour palette. "I sketched out all of the final images, scanned them, and then used a mouse and trackpad with shape and pen tools to create the finals all in Photoshop," says Davey of his creative process. "I know I should use Illustrator really, but I've been using Photoshop for over 15 years, so it's just second nature to me now." Davey did a lot of research for the book – we love this scale chartCrazy About Cats is Davey's seventh book. It's a mixture of infographics, text and illustrations – we particularly like the scale chart showing big cats side by side, and the page of weird and wonderful cats with some that we'd never heard of. “I always start these non fiction books with the research. I spent a ridiculous amount of time rifling through books, watching documentaries, finding scientific charts, exploring the internet, and going to zoos in order to gain the knowledge to write the book," says Davey. "Once I'd found out the stuff that I found most interesting, I started working out section headers and how the book could be broken down into its 40 pages. This was then edited by the wonderful people over at Flying Eye Books, and I began to put pencil to paper, working out compositions for pages and what might go where." If cats aren't your thing (because you're weird) then you might prefer Davey's Mad About Moneys or Smart About Sharks, or any of the other illustrations on his website. We wonder what's next... fingers crossed for Dotty About Dinos or Pretty Excited About Pandas! Scroll through the gallery below to see the big cat illustrations. Related articles: Grammy award-winning artist Klaus Voormann on my hand-drawn is best 13 best animated dinosaurs of all time 10 mesmerising mermaids View the full article

In the past, every album you bought came with 12 square inches of artwork. Artwork that seemed every bit as important as the music contained inside. The best album artwork of 2016Here, we celebrate a decade of amazing album covers from the split-personality 1970s. It was a decade that began without direction, the ash of the '60s waiting to fall off the spliff. Then, somewhere in the middle, it sobered up. Adrenalised and angry, the end of the '70s was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it any more. We chart the ch-ch-changes through the decade’s best album covers. 01. McCartney: McCartney (1970) What do the glacé cherries on McCartney's cover mean?A few months after The Beatles split, Paul McCartney’s solo debut is a document of the bass player’s post-band breakdown. Flip it around and the back cover has Macca grinning, title set jauntily in Cooper Bold, but the front features an image that’s more difficult to decode. Then you realise you’re looking at cherries scattered around an empty bowl. Typical McCartney, mixing the sour with the sweet. 02. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: Weasels Ripped My Flesh (1970) This parody of 1950s illustrations is pretty gruesomeThe edgy album cover of Weasels Ripped My Flesh was commissioned by Frank Zappa himself. He handed illustrator Neon Park a copy of 1950s proto-lad mag Man’s Life with the words, “What can you do that’s worse than this?”. The resulting parody prefigured punk’s anti-materialism by half a decade. 03. Enoch Light and the Light Brigade: Permissive Polyphonics (1970) Permissive Polyphonics had a modernist lookBig band leader and unlikely innovator Enoch Light pioneered the gatefold sleeve in the 1950s, a full decade before Sgt Pepper. Known for brassy versions of modern standards, this album cover reflected a progressive sensibility. This late career example updates Blue Note-style typography with a splash of modernist colour. 04. Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers (1971) The iconic Sticky Fingers album cover was designed by WarholIn a letter to Sticky Fingers' sleeve designer Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger wrote: “The more complicated the format of the album... the more agonising the delays”. Thankfully, Warhol ignored the advice and created a design with a real zip attached, revealing a tasteful glimpse of white cotton briefs when opened. A true icon by a true icon. 05. David Bowie: Hunky Dory (1971) Bowie's Hunky Dory cover had a retro film lookAfter years of desperate conformity, Bowie found success by embracing his weirdness. Like previous album The Man Who Sold the World, the album cover for Hunky Dory sees the future Thin White Duke stroking his long blonde locks and wearing a dress. Like a silent movie heroine in tinted daguerreotype, the typeface is the only real clue what decade we’re in. 06. Sly and the Family Stone: There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971) Redesigning the US flag could have led to real riots for Sly StoneSly Stone had the Stars and Stripes redesigned for the album cover of his apocalyptic funk classic. “I wanted the colour black because it is the absence of colour,” he told Miles Marshall Lewis in 2006. “I wanted the colour white because it is the combination of all colours. And I wanted the colour red because it represents the one thing that all people have in common: blood.” 07. The Imperials: Time to Get it Together (1971) A surprisingly radical cover for the unsurprising groupFlicking through their output, the album cover for Time to Get it Together seems like an anomaly for The Imperials, with design and typography that’s much more radical than the music inside. (If you’re unfamiliar with them, they sound a bit like a Christian version of the Bee Gees.) 08. Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (1972) Roger Dean's album covers for Yes transformed the band's lookNo marriage of music and image says more about the early '70s than Roger Dean’s Yes covers. Before their collaboration began, Yes were a post-Zeppelin bunch of noodlers looking for an image. Dean drew them a logo and they were transformed into fantastic synth wizards; prog pioneers floating through mushroom-peppered landscapes. An acquired taste, but undeniably influential. 09. Faust: IV (1973) This album cover for Faust features blank sheet musicIn a decade readily identified with flamboyance, the minimalist album cover for krautrock group Faust's fourth offering prepares you for the difficult, contrarian music inside. Several versions exist, but the key image is always the same; two columns of blank musical staves. A bold mission statement and a striking cover. 10. Ramones: Ramones (1976) The boldness of the font reflected the band's boldnessProto-punk rockers Ramones didn’t need the frills of fancy illustration or arch design to sell their three-minute anthems: they just needed to be their snotty selves. It’s telling that this is the only album cover in the line-up with a shot of the band on the front. The clean, bold type completes the declaration of aggressive intent. Next page: 10 more iconic 70s album covers 11. ELO: Out of the Blue (1977) Shusei Nagaoka created this album cover for Electric Light OrchestraThe Electric Light Orchestra are a group that grew into their skin, producing six albums before striking platinum with Out of the Blue. This is a sleeve that could only have been created in 1977, for ELO. Illustrated by Japanese album cover specialist Shusei Nagaoka, the airbrushed finish, sci-fi theme and glowing neon perfectly reflect ELO’s multi-layered, high sheen and sugary production. 12. Pink Floyd: Animals (1977) Hipgnosis created some incredible covers for Pink FloydBritish art design group Hipgnosis enjoyed a run of superlative covers for Pink Floyd, designing the prismatic Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here’s flaming handshake. Enjoying a symbiotic relationship with a band at its peak, the cover for Animals is one from a series of amazing designs from the days when pigs really could fly. 13. Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel 1 (1977) Another Hipgnosis work, this cover used spot colour before PhotoshopPeter Gabriel produced four funky, angular albums between 1977 and 1982 sharing the same bare typography, the same eponymous title and similar, striking portraiture. Another Hipgnosis creation, the spot colour on Peter Gabriel 1 was achieved by layered exposure of monochrome and colour negatives. Photoshopping before Photoshop, in other words. 14. Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977) Bold and brash, just like the Sex Pistols themselvesWith Vivienne Westwood’s styling, Malcolm McLaren’s marketing and Jamie Reid’s graphic design, we often forget that The Pistols were essentially a 12-bar rock band with sweary lyrics. Their one and only studio album benefits from an album cover that captures the combination of brash, trash, outlaw chic that made them famous for 15 minutes and influential for much, much longer. 15. Kraftwerk: The Man Machine (1978) Futuristic art inspired by Russian designer El LissitzkyInspired by and adapted from the work of Russian designer El Lissitzky, The Man Machine sealed Kraftwerk’s image as android music makers. Melding the striking red and black of constructivist poster design with geometric typography, this was the first Kraftwerk cover to be as futuristic as the band themselves. 16. XTC: Go 2 (1978) A design to sell an album that ranted about designing to sell an albumIt’s a paradox that in filling the cover of Go 2 with a Courier-set rant about record marketing, XTC produced the first truly original album cover of the post-punk era. A striking, typography-led design, it comes as no surprise that it was a double-bluff. The cover was crafted by Hipgnosis, making the transition from old school to new wave. 17. PiL: First Issue (1978) The magazine-style cover for Public Image Ltd's first albumPublic Image Ltd’s first album came just over a year after the Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks. Intended by designers Zebulon to mimic the look of glossy music magazines, the random use of song titles in place of headlines gives a fractured finish to the album cover that fits PiL’s discordant musical style perfectly. 18. The Clash: London Calling (1979) London Calling drew on Elvis for rock 'n' roll inspirationFamously aping Elvis Presley’s debut, London Calling’s second-hand typography and guitar smashing action reinvented rock and roll for the end of the '70s. Pennie Smith takes credit for the photography, but designer Ray Lowry created a work that was unlike anything in his canon. The combination captured The Clash as they briefly were and would never be again. 19. Wire: 154 (1979) A modernist cover that speaks volumes about the music insideArt rock never went away. The experimental core of Kraftwerk, Can and Floyd was smelted by punk, and Wire came out the other side. 154 is a jarring, at times ethereal entry in their early catalogue, with a sleeve that recalls Joan Miro and other modernist painters. Again, this is an album cover without type that says everything you need to know about its content. 20. Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1979) Peter Saville’s cover just features one striking imageAlmost 40 years after its debut, Peter Saville’s cover for Unknown Pleasures remains a T-shirt favourite for floppy-fringed hipster kids and their dads. The original album cover gave nothing away. There’s no band name or track listing, just this image, borrowed and inverted; the radio wave representation of a distant, pulsating star. Perfection. Related articles: Artists redesign their top 10 albums of 2016 Street art: 45 incredible examples Review: Adobe Creative Cloud 2017 View the full article

Looking to start your next digital project? Be it a website, app or other screen-based venture, there’s an abundance of high-quality and (best of all) free web fonts out there. Let’s take a look at some of the best options. You’ll find them all, and many more, at fonts.google.com. 01. Rubik Rubik features subtle, rounded cornersA sans-serif family with five weights – Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Black, all with italics – Rubik has subtle, rounded corners and is ideal for both body copy and headlines. It was designed by Philipp Hubert and Sebastian Fischer at Hubert and Fischer. 02. Monoton Monoton is a contemporary take on metalpress fontsA display font (recommended to be used above 30pt) much in the style of Alex Trochut, Monoton is a contemporary take on metalpress fonts, and was designed by Vernon Adams. It's perfect for a quirky headline on your site – as the estimated 2,000,000 websites it has been used on proves. Pair it with a modern serif for a contemporary yet classic feel. 03. Karla Karla comes in Regular and Bold, along with italicsKarla is a grotesque sans-serif typeface in Regular and Bold (along with italics) with some rather nice quirks – check out the subtle, curved descenders on the ‘q’ and ‘y’, for instance. Designed by Jonny Pinhorn, it's equally appealing at over 40pt right down to body copy sizes. 04. Baloo You can use Baloo in nine Indian scripts, if you so wishAccording to Google, Baloo is "a perfect blend of pointy paws in a coat of fur". OK. We think it's an intriguing rounded display face, that’s also available in nine Indian scripts along with a Latin counterpart. Versatile and, well, rather beautiful. 05. Neuton Neuton is a versatile, Dutch-style faceNeuton is a little like Times in structure, with its large height, short extenders, and a compact width. It’s perfect for body copy and comes in Extra-Light, Light, Regular, Regular Italic, Bold and Extra Bold. A hugely versatile Dutch-inspired face by designer Brian Zick. 06. Alegreya SC This all-caps face creates impact for headlinesIf you’re looking for an all-caps typeface for a bit of impact in your headlines or supporting text, Alegreya SC may be just the ticket. Pair it with the rest of the Alegreya family for an elegant consistency across your screen projects. 07. Lilita One Use Lilita One at 40pt or over for maximum impactA little bit condensed, a little bit rounded, and a little bit quirky in its rounded terminals and soft appearance, Lilita One is a fun display font for headlines and shorter text (perhaps navigational elements). Best used at 40pt and above, we reckon. 08. EB Garamond Worth checking out, even though it's currently only available in RegularEB Garamond is an open source revival of Claud Garamond’s classic typeface from the mid-16th century, and we can’t really explain it in any more detail. A sublime and elegant body font, even if it is only available in Regular at this point. It’s worth checking out Cormorant Garamond, as well. 09. Lora Lora is ideal for large chunks of body textAvailable in Regular, Regular Italic, Bold and Bold Italic, Lora is a serif font particularly suited to reams of body text. Google says "the overall typographic voice of Lora perfectly conveys the mood of a modern-day story, or an art essay". We particularly like the way the stem flows into the tittle on the lowercase ‘i’ in Regular Italic. 10. Space Mono This sci-fi-style face comes in Regular and Bold versionsGeometric fuses with grotesque in this sci-fi-esque design. A fixed-width family in Regular and Bold (with italics – Regular Italic being our favourite, thanks to its wonderful descenders and serifs), Space Mono is one cool display face. As well as in headlines, use the Regular weight sparingly for short passages of text. Next page: 10 more great Google web fonts 11. Kaushan Script This calligraphic font purposefully avoids typographic perfectionThe calligraphic, energetic Kaushan is a script font that deliberately avoids typographic perfection, with slight variation in angles between verticals in characters and uneven positioning along the baseline. For a script font it’s very readable, even at small sizes – but of course we’d only recommend it for headlines, used in moderation. 12. Julius Sans One Try Julius Sans One for subtle headlines that still make an impactMore than a hint of Roman here, with a modern twist to some of the legs, Julius Sans One is a thin display font perfect for subtle, yet still impactful, headlines. Pair it with the likes of Lato Light, maybe, for a refined, low-key style. 13. Courgette Use this medium-contrast italic-only font larger than 40ptA brush script with flourishing impact, Courgette is a medium-contrast italic-only font. Yes, you’ll want to use it larger than 40pt, but Google tells us that the low stroke contrast can even work in body text (although we’d suggest you are cautious if you take that advice). 14. Wire One This condensed sans is sharp and stylishWire One is so thin you’re not going to want to use it at anything below 12pt – and even that may be pushing legibility. It’s a lovely condensed sans, nonetheless, and its minuscule dot terminals are quite beautiful. Sharp and stylish. 15. Cormorant Cormorant was inspired by Claude GaramondThis is one behemoth of a free typeface. It comprises Roman, Italic, Infant, Infant Italic, Garamond, Garamond Italic, Upright Cursive, Small Caps, and Unicase; and five weights – Light, Regular, Medium, SemiBold, and Bold. From display to body, you could easily build a whole style around this Claude Garamond-inspired number. 16. Righteous Righteous' lowercase 'e' will divide opinionThere’s a touch of Avant Garde in this display font, inspired by the capital letterforms from the deco posters of Hungarian artist Robert Berény for Modiano. While the lowercase ‘e’ may be a little sharp for some, it’s without doubt an arresting font when used at large point sizes. 17. Bungee Shade Bungee celebrates urban signageIf you want ultimate impact with your headlines – and even a start for your graphic projects – Bungee Shade is a great shout. According to Google, Bungee celebrates urban signage, with Shade being just one variant. Check out the regular Bungee for a less extravagant, yet still impactful display font (and Bungee Inline for a lovely reversal of Shade). 18. Amatic SC Open source face Amatic SC has a hand-drawn aesthetic‘Hand-drawn’ and ‘web fonts’ don’t often go together in the same sentence, but Amatic SC (small caps) is undoubtedly one of the better open source offerings out there. Use it sparingly in both headlines and shorter measures of text for a crafty feel. 19. Roboto Roboto is used on over 11 million sites worldwideRoboto is one of the most common open source web fonts out there (used on over 11,000,000 sites worldwide), and for good reason. It's a surprisingly rhythmic sans that can be used alongside Roboto Condensed and Roboto Slab for a consistent, contemporary style. 20. Arvo Geometric slab Arvo works as well in print as it does on screenA geometric slab, Arvo is equally at home in print as it is on screen – as long as you’re using it for headlines, that is. Arvo is hugely legible at any size over 30pt, and – particularly in the Bold weight – a font that will stop your viewers in their tracks and take notice. Related articles: 50 best free fonts for designers 4 modern brands flying the flag for script fonts The rules of responsive web typography View the full article

How EternalBlue was ported to Windows 10, a Facebook phishing study, QakBot, and this week's Apple security announcements are all discussed. View the full article

Your website can't simply host your content – it also needs to be easy to navigate and to use if you want your visitors to stick around. Learn how to build a better, more responsive website with the UI/UX Professional Designer Bundle of courses, on sale now for just $39 (approx £30)! The eight incredible courses that are packed into the UI and UX Designer Bundle will teach you the fundamentals of design, with the goal of improving the overall experience on your websites and apps. Learn how to make the most of HTML and CSS and tweak your site to be more responsive and easier to interact with. You'll pick up the concepts of user interface and modern design principles in a snap with this bundle. You can get the UI and UX Designer Bundle on sale right now for just $39 (approx £31). That's a 94% saving off the retail price for this can't-miss bundle of courses, so grab this deal today! View the full article

Moto G4 and Moto G5 model Motorola phones are vulnerable to kernel command line injection vulnerabilities. View the full article

VMware fixed two critical vulnerabilities in its vSphere Data Protection solution this week that could have allowed an attacker to execute commands on the appliance, among other outcomes. View the full article

Cisco patched two critical flaws in its Prime Data Center Network Manager, including one that could be exploited remotely and allow an attacker root access. View the full article

WiMAX routers manufactured by several companies, including Huawei and ZyXEL, are vulnerable to an authentication bypass and potential backdoors. View the full article

Now that researchers have built a port of EternalBlue to Windows 10, they've probably only now caught up to what the NSA has had for a long while. View the full article

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You're reading Best Free JS Adblock Detection Scripts For The Web, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Adblock plugins are on the rise as more Internet users shy away from obtrusive ads. Unfortunately this mostly hurts publishers who rely on advertising to keep their websites online. Thankfully there are solutions to detect adblock users and encourage them to disable for your site. You can setup these plugins with just a few lines […] View the full article

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